desirous of attending a horse race on the Monday, actually sent his groom with a pair of carriage horses a distance of 60 miles on the Sunday, in order that they might be ready for his use on the race-ground the following day. Can laboring men be expected to attend, or if they do attend, can we expect them to pay proper attention to the teachings of such a rector?

We believe that a clergyman's connection with the civil power, as magistrate or guardian of the poor, is detrimental to his spiritual influence. We know that the difficulty of finding duly-qualified laymen to serve as magistrates is considerable, and may be pleaded as an excuse for the appointment of clergymen to that office; but we feel that the pastor of a parish serves a higher Master than the highest of those who make human laws, and we would not have them mixed up with the painful details of business which magistrates who do their duty to the public must constantly encounter. Besides, the clergyman is frequently needed to admonish or console the relatives of offenders; but these poor unlearned creatures cannot be expected to attend to the instruction of the man who has just sentenced their companion. Such a clergyman is frequently looked upon with fear instead of love, and the higher interests of the Gospel as well as the influence of the Church suffer. By some it has been contended, that to interest himself in the proper administration of Poor Law relief in his own neighbourhood, is an occupation for which a country clergyman is peculiarly fitted. fitted. We believe, however, that it is not desirable to place the pastor of a parish at the head of the parochial establishment for the support of the poor. We would have the clergyman be as little as possible the administrator of civil government, and have as little as possible to do with secular affairs. "The harshness of legal authority is better placed elsewhere."

The amusements of a portion of our clergymen have

ABUSE OF PATRONAGE.

285

tended, we believe, to lower that respect for the ministerial character which it is desirable to maintain. In 1854, no less than 48 Suffolk clergymen (20 in the Eastern and 28 in the Western Division) took out licenses to kill game. Such devotion to the sports of the field-such exchanges of the study for the stubblethe bedside of the dying parishioner for a covey of partridges the surplice for the dress of a keen sportsman -God's word for a fowling-piece-a parcel of tracts for a bag of game-such contrasts as these cannot, we believe, occur without detriment to the ministerial character. We don't say that there is moral evil in the enjoyment of a day's sport in the field, but we do think that such sports are inconsistent with that earnestness and spirituality which should distinguish the pastor of the flock, and we trust that clergymen whose love of sport induces them to take out a license will feel the necessity of relinquishing a pursuit which, though of itself comparatively innocent, is inconsistent with their legitimate functions, and provokes among the parishioners free comments to the pastor's disadvantage.

But the manner in which certain ecclesiastical patronage has been used has tended as much as anything to disgust many persons, who have in consequence been driven to quit the Church and too frequently to remain indifferent to all religious observances. The "Rougham case," which excited intense interest in 1853, was an instance of this character. The Rev. Robert Davers, who died in 1853, had held the living of Rougham since 1802, and also the Rectory of St. George, Bradfield, where he resided. The inhabitants of Rougham had in consequence, for about half a century, been without a resident incumbent. The living is worth about £800 per annum. But the spiritual care of 1,000 souls was left to a curate. The death of Mr. Davers gave the opportunity of removing this blot upon the Establishment. But, alas instead of placing at

Rougham a a young, earnest, and high-principled minister, the living was presented to the Rev. George Naylor, 86 years of age, and perfectly incompetent by his infirmities for discharging the pastoral duties; for even the Thirty-nine Articles had to be printed in Ipswich in large type to enable this aged minister to read them at his institution. We might cite other instances of a similar abuse of patronage, but the above is sufficient to exhibit the injury which is thereby inflicted upon Church principles and religious obser

vances.

These are the most obvious hindrances to religious influences that have impressed themselves upon our notice in making the inquiry we undertook, and we trust that the visible blemishes may be removed by the earnestness of the real friends of the Church, and the Establishment become as it was intended-the instrument of spreading the blessings of the Gospel among all classes of the people.

CHAPTER IX.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS.

WE have seen that Agricultural Suffolk is celebrated for Schools of inferior quality, and, as may be expected, institutions for carrying on the means of instruction among adults are neither numerous nor flourishing in this county. Newspapers and cheap publications have but a small circulation in Suffolk. The educative influence arising from the contact of mind with mind is denied to a scattered population, and the agricultural mind in this district lags in the rear of a large portion of England. It is quite evident that this is in a great measure owing to the defective instruction of the children, as about 50 per cent. of our adult population are unable to write, and numbers of men in this county cannot read with sufficient fluency to be able to derive pleasure or advantage from books. This idea is confirmed by the statement of Sir John Herschel, that many a rough hind on Highland hills is as familiar with the Paradise Lost,' or the works of his great national historians, as with his own sheep-hook," it being well known that in Scotland the people generally receive a much larger share of instruction at the educational age. The following returns will show the aggregate condition of the Mechanics' and Literary Institutes of Suffolk in 1851

The first thing that arrests the attention of the observer in these tables is the presence of a library and reading-room in some places of small population, and their absence in towns and villages containing a much larger number of persons. Hadleigh Hadleigh with 3,338, Bungay with 3,841, Eye with 2,587, Southwold with 2,109, and Debenham with 1,653 persons, were each of them without a library to which the public could have access by right or payment; whilst Needham Market with 1,367, Clare with 1,769, Leiston with 1,580, and Yoxford with 1,272 persons, had each their institute and reading-room. Some of these places have since 1851 made efforts to collect books for a library, or to establish a reading-room. In Debenham an attempt has been made to establish a mechanics' institute, and at Bungay, which, to its disgrace, has no library for the people, a reading-room was opened